A Change in Heart
by KanraToshi
Summary: Kronos is becoming stronger, and because of that, Camp HalfBlood's in trouble. As intended to the prophecy, Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Thalia are to lead the world to peace. How exactly how? It all started when a certain dream makes its way to Percy.
1. ANNOUCEMENT

**A/N**: _Ok everyone. This is NOT the official start of the story! I need pairings! Vote!!!!!! Either percy/annabeth or luke/annabeth. _

_These are the main two, but if you have others in mind that you want me to include, plz tell me! If you do, I may include them _

_into the story if it fits. Um…..i'm not thinking of doing any slash, but if I do.., it's probably most likely be luke/percy. If you don't _

_like the idea, plz tell me and your ideas! I have the plot ready to go, just the pairing sections. So, tell me! And, oh yeah, I'm trying _

_to make this like the real story, ya'know, like in percy's POV and everything so….yeah. I also want it to be long enough, so it _

_may take a long time writing just 1 chapter. As I said, I want it to be like a real Percy Jackson book, just in the way I want the _

_ending to be. My goal for starting is for each chapter to be at least 5- 6 pages long. In the end it may reach up to within 20 pages _

_or so, or it may still be at 5-6 pages, I dunno. But people, I NEED YOUR IDEAS! and if you do have any plot ideas, tell me too, _

_I'll try to fit them in as best I can. Thankz! And yeah, if you don't reply to this in a long enough time, I'm starting the story _

_without ya, sry!_


	2. Chapter 1

**A Change Of Heart, Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

**Chapter 1**

**A/N: **_So, almost everyone voted on a Percy/Annabeth fic and if possible adding Thalia/Luke there too. oookay, i decided i waited _

_long enough, and i was getting to excited to wait anymore. So, i tried to do my best. tell me what you think. and i always need _

_ideas!! um...i'm thinking of doing at least a 15 chapter story. um...if no more things are to be said, on with the story! _

_999_

I didn't actually remember falling asleep in the car. All I faintly remember was that I was with Grover, Annabeth, and my mom, going to

meet Thalia at Camp Half-Blood. I guess I've been worrying too much about likely being killed by monsters. See, I'm a half-blood,

meaning my dad was a god, Poseidon to be precise. Annabeth and Thalia are one too, while my friend Grover was a satyr. Meaning that

he's half human, half goat.

_999_

Anyway, all I remember was sitting in the car impatiently while my mom rambled on about when I met my first monster. She sounded

so proud! Me, I wished it nevered happened. Trust me, that happened when I was really really young. I guess I did fall asleep, because

the next thing I knew, I was in a dark room with lots of long shadows. It had a creepy touch to it, like many people were actually killed

there.

_999_

A further and closer glance around the room led me to believe that it was really the stateroom of Luke's ship, _Princess Andromeda_. It l

ooked the same as the last time I saw it, huge windows, a Persian rug, plush sofas, a canopied bed, a mahogany dining table, and of

course, the golden casket with Ancient Greek scenes of destuction and terriozing. Thalia believed that Kronos's remains were in that

golden casket. Me? I'd rather not think about it.

_999_

Monsters were crowded all around the room, all bowing to the casket, and Luke, who was standing next to it, his 2 blade sword

glinting wickedly in the little rays of incoming sunlight looking proud at his overgrowned army. His skin had become even more paler,

which I'd thought that was never possible. Of course, I was wrong. His scar seemed to be deeper in his face, his eyes had long lost their

welcoming, gentle, and sparkle to them as I had first met him at camp.

_999_

As I stood watching, Luke began to speak. His voice had become deeper, much deeper, as if belonging to someone else. It seemed so

familiar, yet I couldn't put my finger to it at that moment. Also, Luke's voice seemed to be fuzzy; I should say unclear. I only caught

phrases of words, such as "need to get, not long now, all according to plan, and under my control." Even though I didn't have any clue

what Luke was mumbling about, I had a feeling that it wasn't something pleasant to me.

_999_

Then, as I continued to watch, something very strange began to take place. As Luke started talking again, well kind of buzzing in my

case, his body became…well, like stone. All of a sudden, a thing like a holagram being projected came in front of the stony Luke. I swore

he was staring straight at me, even though I knew I couldn't be seen.

_999_

Then, the hologram Luke spoke. Its voice was Luke's old one. The same as I had met him 4 years ago. He screamed, "Hurry, Go!" as

if to me, faded, and died out. Finally, Luke became un-stoned. He rubbed his eyes as if he were sleepy. He looked around the room, and

started talking again, as if someone had rewound him.

_999_

I woke up with a start. I looked and saw my mom still babbling about how cute I looked when I was two and how she wanted to dress

me up in a dress cause she thought it would make me cuter. Boy, I could've died right there and then. Grover was nodding at my mom,

like he was actually paying attention to her story! But then, he was so concentrated on tearing apart and eating empty Coke cans.

Annabeth was looking at me, with a worried look in her eyes. While my mom was still talking loudly, she leaned over and whispered,

"You okay? Your face is all red." Ok, confession. I was not okay, but my face was red for another reason. I mean, Annabeth was so

close to me, how could she be so calm? Of course, I had to say something. I shook my head, and whispered back, "I'll tell you at camp"

into her ear. Now she was the one who was blushing. Hey, did she just caught on?

_999_

About an eturnaty later, we arrived at the Big House. My mom dropped us off, gave us each a hug, and drove off. We truged up the

hill, and passed the camp's magical border. Thalia was waiting for us, in front of my cabin. Since Tyson was gone, no one else went there

except for me. "Hey!" Thalia said. On a further notice, she seemed happy on the outside, but her eyes were another case. They were

serious, like in the middle of a big battle. A very serious battle.

_999_

Our greetings were kept short, since we could tell that Thalia was itching to tell us something. As we fell into silence, Thalia said, "Let's

go into your cabin, Percy. It'll be more privite there." So, I opened the door to cabin three, a cabin with outer walls of gray stone,

covered with seashell pieces, and coral, and the ocean waves. The cabin of Poseidon, my dad.

_999_

Thalia herded us across the room next to my bed. She shut the door and folded her arms. "We need to talk." She simply stated. I sat

down on my bed next to Grover and Annabeth. "About what?" Thalia replied. "Did you guys start having weird dreams lately? Dreams

you couldn't remember when you woke up even if you tried your hardest?" We all agreed that we had dreamt in our sleep. Annabeth

couldn't give much detail……if I had to guess, it had something to do with driving her father's war airplane and building the next famous

vacation monument. Grover said that he remembered all his dreams clearly. "I am a satyr after all." He said.

_999_

"So, what was the dream about?" Thalia said impatiently. Grover cleared his voice. "I was wondering in this thick green forest, when I

spotted this most amazing reed pipe! Anything I played on it sounded perfect!" Thalia just rolled her eyes while Annabeth and I burst out

laughing.

_999_

"Ugh" Thalia groaned. "No! I mean important dreams, like links." I remembered the dream I had in the car. "Well…" I started. "I did

have a dream." And I proceeded to tell them, but I kind of stopped at the part where Luke became stoned. "Go on." Annabeth

encouraged. "Umm…..I forgot." "WHAT?!" Annabeth screamed. "Quiet." Thalia ordered her. She nodded to me. "I had a dream like

that too, except it wasn't in the ship. It was in the Underworld, near the entrance to Tartarus, Kronos's place. Luke was there again,

talking with Kronos's voice. And then……Luke became rigid too, like stone. But……I forgot what happened next. Like you Percy."

"Whoa!" Grover said suddenly. "What?" we all asked him. "I just found that you have a stack of empty Coke cans under your bed!

You could've told me earlier!" He started to tackle the tin cans with his mouth. They were gone in 30 seconds straight. I felt sorry for the

cans.

_999_

"Grover, stop kidding around!" Annabeth said. "This is serious." Thalia added. "Something's going on; we can't all have the same

dreams!" After a second's pause she added, "Well, just Percy and me. I mean, Grover, you and Annabeth had pretty ordinary dreams." I

understood her point. Building a famous monument and playing reed pipes in the forest didn't even come close to my dream. And I bet

that it wasn't even that frightening.

_999_

"Well, whatever the dreams mean, don't figure it out now." Annabeth said. "Why not?" Thalia asked. "Because, we were in the car for

3 hours!! 3 long fricking hours!" "And…?" Thalia was not getting her point, but I was, and by the looks of things, so were Grover. "I'M

HUNGRY!" the three of us stated at the same time. Thalia nodded understanding, but then turned to look at Grover. "Hey, goat-boy.

How can you be still hungry?" "Huh?" Grover looked confused. "What did I eat?" Annabeth pointed in the direction of my bed. "Huh?"

Grover continued to look confused. Sometimes, I wondered how my friend could be so slow at times. Annabeth sighed, and walked over

to my bed. She lifted the covers and pointed under the bed. "Come on," Grover wined finally catching on to what Annabeth was talking

about. "That was just a snack." Annabeth sighed and said, "Let's go get something to eat. It must be about time for dinner anyways."

_999_

As we headed out of the cabin, I looked up at the already darkening sky. To me, it looked just like the _Princess Andromeda_.

_999_

**A/N: **_Ok, how did i do? pretty good? can improve more? not so good? (i hope not) or horrible? (i really hope not) tell me what _

_you think! _


	3. Chapter 2

**A Change Of Heart, Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

**Chapter 2**

** AN: ohmigod! I am so sorry that I haven't updated for such a long time. School's really tough, and I had to make up all these labs for science cuz I was sick for a while. Anyway, I took the suggestion of some of you guys and decided to slow the story down a little. I'm almost done with the third chapter, and I'm trying to make it extra long, a way of saying sorry to you guys. I hope you understand. Anyway, I'm really into manga, and I found this new one I really like, you may have heard of it, it's called Bleach. Ok, I'm starting to blabble here, so I'll just start the story. Oh, and I changed the way of presenting paragraphs. I hope you like the new way, and if you don't, speak up! Don't be shy!**

Dinner was always pretty chaos at Camp Half-Blood. Today was no exception. I sat there, by myself at my table, watching the naiads serving every one of us. I was pretty quiet when we stood up to give our offering to the gods. I scraped a chuck of roast beef into the fire, murmured, "For Poseidon," and sat back down.

Food fights started pretty soon after that. I watched as grapes and bananas started doing cartwheels in the air. I sure felt sorry for them, and even sorrier for the person who had to clean all this up. Soon, pizza was splattered all over the floors. Some first camper stood up, and slipped right away. Ouch…that had to hurt. I looked up at Mr. D and Chiron hoping they'll take command again. No…Chiron and Mr. D were absorbed in a game of pinhole.

Suddenly, a voice said to me, "HEY! Seaweed Brain!"

I jumped…maybe a foot into the air. I looked around, but Annabeth was no where to be seen.

"I'm right here." Annabeth shimmered into view across from me. Man, I had to admit, her invisibility hat of hers, I seriously have no clue if it was good of evil.

Grover and Thalia crept around the mob of fighting kids and joined us. "What are you doing here?!" I hissed. "Annabeth, you're not

suppose to be here! If someone finds you here…"

Thalia just shook her head. "No, we won't be long." Sometimes I wanted to strangle her, but I had the feeling that Zeus wouldn't be too pleased with me if I did that.

Bad Luck. Right at that moment, Mr. D looked up from his pinhole game and stared, straight at us. He totally ignored all the fighting. He raised his voice and said, "Thalia, get back to your correct seat." When Thalia opened her mouth to protest, he added, "Now!"

Grover scampered away even before he could say anything to him. Mr. D then turned to Annabeth. "Peter, your girlfriend has to go sit at her own table."

That stopped all the fighting all right. Everyone turned around to look at me. I felt my face turning red, and out of the corner of my eye, saw Annabeth disappear under her cap. I turned to face Mr. D. "The name's Percy, not Peter," I said as calmly as I could.

"Well," Mr. D. countered, "As kids say these days, WHATEVER!" The kids turned to point and laugh at me, and throughout the dinner I couldn't concentrate.

After we finished eating, Chiron stood up. He announced that he was time for the campfire and reminded us that capture the flag game was tomorrow night. As I left the mess hall, I heard kids whispering to each other, "Can you believe it? Percy and Annabeth?!" and "I can't believe they got together!" or "I have to admit, Annabeth is kinda cute."

They turned every so often, to glance at me. What were they thinking? That I wouldn't see them or anything? They must've been very idiotic.

I took control of my body, which was really hard to do, and forced myself not to make eye contact with them. I quietly left the mess hall with Grover and Thalia. They both gave me a sorrow look. Ugh, what, I could deal with these rumors.

Annabeth was missing from our group as we headed back toward the cabins. I got the feeling that she didn't want to be noticed anywhere by anyone. I knew that feeling. It wasn't easy trying to fit in with everyone. Annabeth was popular at Camp Half-Blood, after staying there for so many years. But never in those many years had she been…what's the word? …humiliated like that.

Soon, we reached my cabin, and I said a half hearted goodbye to Grover and Thalia. They shared a look and hurried away. I guess people learned that I could be pretty scary when I'm angry. I kept myself busy by getting ready for the night; changing, brushing my teeth, and using the bathroom….little things like that.

But as I climbed into my bed, and lay under my covers, I stared up at the cabin's ceiling. Sometimes, it could be really lonely here. I had a hard time falling asleep, because I was thinking that if I never existed, Annabeth would have never suffered the humiliation and later, the rumors that'll be going around about us. For once, I shared her thoughts and agreed with her, which wasn't something easy to do with the son of Poseidon and the daughter of Athena.

** AN: Well? Did you like it? Or was I being toooo slow? The next chapter might not make sense to you as soon as you start reading it, but be patient. All will be explained throughout the story. And see? Percy feels sorry for Annabeth! I can't wait for the fourth book to come out. I'm rereading the first three again, and again, and again, ...you get the point.**


	4. Chapter 3

**A Change Of Heart, Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

**Chapter 3**

**A/N: So sorry I didn't update sooner! I'm sure that a lot of you thought that I had quit this story. Nah, I won't. But sometimes, depending when, you may need to wait a while before I post another chapter on. I tried to make this one long...**

**Still, I may hit road blocks...you know what I mean. But finally, I now present: Chapter Three.**

Darkness swirled around me. I was lost, all alone in a sea of darkness, in a sea of evil. Now, don't get me wrong, I love the water, but there was something off about this. Something….wrong, I could feel it.

Then, the swirling fountains of water disappeared. It just vanished, like…POOF. I somehow got teleported and I ended up on this island. I immediately could tell that it was just a little off the coast of Florida. I still had my trusty GPS inside me I guess.

I looked around the island. It was pretty small, but beautiful. Like all tropical island, this one was no different. But there was a major part of it that chilled my blood. Sure, there were tall palm trees and coconuts on top. Sure, there were the blue ocean and the tan sand. Sure there were colored seashells and animal life. And, sure, there were tall grass and green everywhere. But, there also was the ship. The ship, Luke's ship, _Princess Andromeda_ docked to the island.

I was frozen for a while, and my legs wouldn't move. Then, I shook myself. I wasn't afraid of this ship, of course I wasn't. I didn't bother telling myself that I was lying big time. In truth, I was scared stiff.

I forced myself to wake at an evenly pace onto the ship. I had made up my mind to explore what's inside, for it seemed empty. Nothing was going to stop me from doing that….well, almost nothing.

You ever get the feeling that you shouldn't be in the place that you are? Well, I was in that predicament. As soon as my jelly-like legs touched the plank that I was walking across, a cold feeling started to sink into me. It swirled around me and seemed to murmur the same quiet word over and over in my mind: death, surrender to the darkness.

Then I told myself to snap out of it. I was going to explore the ship, yes, me, the coward. I kept repeating that to myself and I continue walking on the ship's deck. Somehow, I knew where I was going.

Somehow, I knew I needed to go into the stateroom where all the meetings were held. Somehow, I knew it was past the swimming pool, past the huge dining area, and past the ballroom. Don't ask me how I know these things.

But, I trust myself. My body steered me past the spa and the sleeping quarters. I didn't see a single soul abroad. I stopped in front of a huge set of ivory doors loaming in front of me.

I knew that the room I was looking for was behind those doors. I took a deep breath, told myself to stop shaking and be a man, and pushed open the gigantic set of doors.

The place was empty……and dark. The shades were drawn, the curtains down. The desks were neat, the chairs all tucked in. The carpet was fairly clean considering the numbers of beasts that gathered around the place.

I wandered into the room as if in a daze. My eyes swept through the room, taking in the surroundings, looking for anything suspicious. I guess I was kind of out of it, because the next thing I knew, the room was full of beasts and monsters pushing and yelling.

I concentrated on not getting squished between them. Suddenly, one monster became super angry and yanked the scaly tail of the beast in front of it. The beast that had its tail jerked was definitely not happy as it roared and swung around.

I quickly moved away from where I was standing in between them. I did not want to end up as monster mash. I wormed my way across tails, legs, furry arms, and other body parts. Finally, I crawled from under a particularly nasty beast to end up standing in the front of the room.

The golden casket was placed in the front and it was currently glowing. All the monsters behind me suddenly stopped pushing and quickly bowed, as best as they could anyway.

And then, Luke magically materialized next to me. I did a mental check. Yup, same Luke, wicked grin, pale skin, and scar still there. But I couldn't get the feeling out of my body that Luke had suddenly become…….how should I put this……unLuke-y??

Luke's eyes burned into me. I flinched. He reached for his double bladed sword, whose name I remembered was Backbiter. I automatically shoved my hands into my jeans' pockets, desperately groping for the pen I always had with me.

At last I located it in the right pocket. I pulled it out and uncapped it. The ballpoint pen grew and grew longer and longer until it became my trustworthy sword, Riptide.

I held Riptide tightly in my hands and looked bravely into Luke's eyes.

"Bring it." I voiced.

Luke then did something totally unsuspected. His grip on Backbiter loosened, and the sword clattered onto the carpeted floor. His eyes went in and out of focus, and he seemed to be in pain though I didn't even get to slash at him.

Then, just like last time, a hologram of Luke emerged out of……Luke. The hologram of Luke stared into my eyes. Then, it uttered one word.

"Go."

It was urgent, it was serious, and if I didn't obey it, I was going to become sliced open by monsters.

My "braveness" left me completely and I ran. I dodged all the stunned monsters and scurried like a mouse down the empty hallway. I ran past the rooms I passed as I came, and then, in my hurry, I clutched Riptide tightly and jumped right off the deck of _Princess Andromeda_.

As I fell, I silently called upon the waves, and I dropped silently into the green-blue sea. I opened my eyes to find myself submerged in water and deep in the ocean.

I prayed a silent thanks to my father, and kicked my feet, preparing to swim off. I had a pretty good idea where the nearest stretch of land was, and I wanted to get away from the ship as soon as possible since I could still hear the roaring of monsters faintly.

Too late, I realized.

Monsters surrounded me underwater. They were to the right, to the left, and even above me. I was complete surrounded. They charged with a battle cry, and I squeezed my eyes shut waiting for the worst to happen.

I woke in a cold sweat in bed.

No monsters, no ugly beasts. Just me in the tangled sheets in bed. It was all a bad nightmare.

I checked the windows. It was still dark outside, the pale moon glistening over the camp grounds. The camp was peaceful, as everyone was asleep at the moment.

I checked my watch. It was 3:30 in the morning. What a horrible time to wake up. I knew I couldn't go back to sleep after that dream.

I spent the rest of the early, way early morning pondering about my dream. I was glad that I wasn't maimed by monsters, and I felt that the dream held something important.

What had happened to Luke? Why does that hologram always appear, and in the shape of Luke? And why does it always help me? I kept asking myself these questions, along with my pondering if I should tell Annabeth, Grover, and Thalia about this.

I knew I would worry them more if I told them this. But then again, I knew from past experience that if I kept any secrets from then, I would pay, and in the end, they would find out anyway.

I did value my life; I do want to live longer than 16.

I guess it wouldn't hurt them to just tell them the basics, just the basics I told myself. I wouldn't try to worry them.

After all that hard thinking, I lay back on my bed, and closed my eyes. I found myself drifting back into dreamless slumber.

Just the basics, I reminded myself again.

**A/N: So, how was it? I guess some of you knew right away that it was a dream...or not... But I'd like to hear the results. I'm starting to work on Chapter 4 already...so it may be up sooner than this one was. **

**It's the winter holidays...so I have some time. But before I finish Chapter 4, I need to do my science project for extra credit...bonus points can never hurt you wink**

**Still, I'm suppose to color in Jupiter...TO SCALE...let me put it this way...Jupiter is BIG! It hard to draw that big of a circle that big. Any suggestions on how? And yes, I've already went to Wal-Mart to see if they have a huge compass...it didn't work.**


	5. Chapter 4

**A Change Of Heart, Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

**Chapter 4**

**A/N: haha, I had fun making this chapter up. It rarely had anythign to do with the plot of the story, yet it gives the story a bit of ...fun to it, so it's just not all serious about Luke and Kronos and other stuff. I mean, even half-bloods need to have fun sometimes. They need it, being chased by monsters all the time. So, this chapter just came to me. I really wasn't planning on doing it in the first place, but after the last chapter, I thought that things tensed up a bit. (Sry, I'm just babbling here...) So, enjoy!**

I woke up with a start at the sound of a conch horn sounding. It was the official wake-up call. I sat up, the blankets sliding off me, as I stretched. The rest of my sleep had been dream-free, with no haunting Luke whatsoever.

After I dressed for the day, and made my bed, and everything else you do when you usually wake up, I decided to go see Grover. The poor satyr was terrified when Mr. D caught him during dinner yesterday. And speaking of dinner, my face flushed red; the incident with Annabeth was still fresh in my mind.

I'd have to apologize to her I guess, even if I didn't do anything wrong. From what I knew about Annabeth, she'll probably avoid me for a few day, it gets rids of the rumors that flies around, she once told me when I asked her about it.

I stepped out and closed my cabin door gently. Time to find Grover. If I found him fast enough, we may even get to breakfast on time for once.

I walked around the main grounds, I covered the archery zone, the race tracks, the basketball hoops, the swords area, the blacksmith area, and even the stables. No Grover. What I did find was Pegasus and horses whinnying 'Oh! Son of the Sea God, it's a pleasure to meet you!'

I finally thought of looking near the lake, and there I found him.

"Yo, G-Man!" I shouted.

Grover looked up, surprised. I guess he was out of it. I jogged to where he was, sitting near the edge of the lake.

No wonder he was out of it, it seemed that the water spirits had his attention. Annabeth had once told me that they were horrible flirts. I guess Grover thought the opposite.

There were also normal creatures in the water. Fishes and squids, those sorts. And as I approached the lake I heard their thought.

'Oh, Son of the Sea God!' they murmured.

It great when you're the famous one with fishes and squids.

I joined Grover at his spirit watching. As I sat down, they started waving towards me as they did to Grover. I didn't know what to do, I waved back. That only hyped them up more, and they waved furiously in the water to me.

"Didn't I tell you when you first came to Camp Half-Blood that they were horrible flirts?"

Grover jumped in surprise at the voice, and I turned around. There stood Annabeth, hands on her hips, and grey eyes challenging.

"Uh….you might have mentioned it…..yeah……maybe." I replied.

Annabeth glared harder at me.

"Uh….yes, it's coming back to me now. Yup….yeah….you mentioned it." I amended.

Thalia stepped out behind Annabeth.

The first thing she said when she saw the two of us was "There you are! Annabeth and I have been searching everywhere for you guys."

Grover turned his attention back at the watch, and continued to wave his hands. I tuned everything out. Instead of listening to what my friends were saying, I looked up at the sky and watched the beautiful sunrise.

It was only when Grover asked me how the water spirits would react if he played some music on his flute that I snapped back to reality.

"Good idea and all," I said quickly. "But maybe another time." Thalia finished for me.

We all heard Grover playing his flute before, and I wish I could say that it was pretty like the sunrise. Unfortunately, his playing even tortured strawberries.

Too late, I realized. Grover had already plunged his hands into his pockets, and they emerged with the flutes he had received when we came back from our first quest.

'TWEET TWEET TWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!'

Grover blew hard into the flute and played something that sounded like Hilary Duff.

Even though the spirits were in the water, and water muffled sounds, I knew they could hear this loud and clear.

They stopped waving at once, and scurried away, far away from where Grover was still puffing into his flute.

It was Annabeth who had the common sense at last, to pull the flutes away from Grover's mouth. Thalia and I were still too busy covering our ears with our hands.

Grover stopped blowing.

"Hey," he said. "Where did all the water spirits go?"

_Gone, long gone_. I thought.

But apparently Grover didn't think his playing was horrible.

"I know!" he exclaimed to me. "Maybe they thought my flute skills were so awesome, they went away to call their friends over! They could be back any second now!"

Thalia groaned inwardly.

Annabeth pocketed Grover's flutes and with my help, dragged Grover away from the lake. Annabeth spoke.

"And if they do come back, you won't be there to show your amazing skill thankfully."

"But….But…"

The two of us marched off towards the mess hall, dragging Grover by his arms.

Grover wailed. "No!!!!! They need me!!!! They need my beautiful music!!!!! My beautiful music!!!!! Gone!!"

We were attracting a lot of stares from people. I noticed. Thalia was smart enough to walk a distance away from us. She had a look on her face that read 'I don't know them. Don't ask me who they are. They're mental.'

I made up my mind to get back at her later; something that I'll regret doing, most likely.

As Grover's wails woke up the rest of the camp that had still been asleep, Annabeth and I continued to drag him.

After a while, Grover's wails tuned down to a sniffle or two.

"My beautiful music…" he murmured.

Annabeth made eye contact with me, her eyebrows raised, her body language asking me 'What's going on with him?'

Grover cheered up soon though.

We reached the mess hall in a short while, and Grover's sharp eyes immediately became bright.

He waltzed into the room muttering something about enchiladas being the main course.

Thalia, Annabeth, and I had a short meeting outside before going in.

"What's wrong with Grover?" we all asked each other at the same time.

Annabeth had opened her mouth to suggest something but Thalia beat her to it.

She started describing this huge fire-breathing chimera and how it stunned and threatened Grover until Grover agreed to obey its command.

"So now," Thalia concluded. "Grover is acting under the Chimera's orders. Be careful, you can't tell if he's our friend or foe now."

I snorted at that.

Thalia and I made up all these wild theories; my favorite being the one where Thalia had said that before I showed up at the lake, the spirits kidnapped Grover and put a magical spell on him to make him all lovey-dovey.

"And when you came and found Grover, the water spirits plan was foiled and they had to act nice and gentle to not make you suspicious." Thalia finished her long theory in pants.

She was having a blast at this.

Unfortunately, Annabeth stopped the theories we threw out cold. She found a fault in every one we made up.

"OK, then, Wise Girl." I said at last, the funny mood gone.

"What's your idea then?"

Annabeth thought a bit and said, "Spring fever."

"Grover's just have spring fever. Besides, he's part goat."

Annabeth nodded confidently and walked into the mess hall, not looking back at us once.

Thalia and I stared after her, clearly surprised. Annabeth never made a mistake, never ever.

Still…………………

Finally, Thalia broke the silence between us.

"You or me?"

"Huh?" I asked, still staring after Annabeth.

"You or me?" Thalia asked again.

"What do you mean?" I replied.

Thalia laughed.

"Do you think we should tell her that it's autumn?"

**A/N: See, this chapter was uploaded way faster than the last one huh? I'll try to keep it that way. Chapter 5 is on its way. The bad news is that the Christmas holidays are almost over (3 more days) so...I may not have much time to work on this. But I'm not giving up, so keep checking! **

**As from the A/N before the chapter, this chapter was merely fun. I hope you enjoyed it! From the beginning of the first book of PJO (the lightning thief) I've thought of Grover as...kind of crazy sort of guy. And for Annabeth, well, even geniuses make mistakes. ...even if you have Athena as a mother. ...Annabeth is always the kind of person who's always right, and it's her personality. ...Percy always have a tough time at that, and I thought I'd help him a bit by actually ...well...making a mistake for once. **

**As I said, even very smart people make mistakes. ...and Annabeth does have ADHD (just a reminder.) Okay, so...I'm done babbling. Wait for Chapter 5!!!**


	6. Chapter 5

**A Change Of Heart, Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

**Chapter 5**

**A/N: again, so sorry for not being able to update as fast as i can. state tests are coming up, and i just had my math one. actually, it was because i had 30 minutes to waste after i was done with the test, that i remembered some ideas i wanted to include on this story, and started to draft some chapters. as i got home after school, i started typing as soon as i got my homework done. i hope that in the future, i can update faster than i am now, but still, at least it's out. ENJOY! and thank you for those who waited patiently for so long.**

During breakfast, I was careful not to make a scene quite like last night's dinner. In fact, I avoided my friends, especially Annabeth. As each table got up to give their offering to the gods, Thalia gave me a half glare, half sympathetic look. I tried to ignore it.

Annabeth would know why I was doing this. Actually, I think she was kind of happy at my move. She didn't even look at my direction. Instead, she was laughing at one of the many jokes her siblings told her. Well then, at least she was cheered up.

I scraped off a pile of fresh, juicy-looking grapes, and sat down again. I looked at Grover. He was sitting….standing behind Mr. D, looking mournfully at the deck of cards Mr. D was currently playing with Chiron. And looking at the scowl on Mr. D's face, I'd say that Chiron was winning like always.

Just then, one of the kids from Ares cabin had started an argument, which led to shouting and then, eventually, the clatter of cups and spills. Mr. D turned his head from his card game and started yelling at the poor camper.

Grover took that chance to reach over the table and gobbled down the set of Kings. After he finished chewing, the set of Aces disappeared also. Although he didn't have the chance to eat any more; Mr. D had returned.

Thalia met my eyes, and we both snickered. Mr. D was going to be furious when he found out that there were missing cards to his deck. I knew for a fact that it was brand new, with picture of Tweety Bird in different poses on the back. Grover had better watch his back.

When breakfast was over, I followed Thalia out the mess hall. We met up with Grover, who had seemed to have gotten over his "spring fever", and lastly with Annabeth who was muttering of how pointless some jokes were. I guess they weren't really that funny.

Grover broke the silence first. For a wild moment there, I thought he was going to rant on about the lake again, and looking at Annabeth, I could see it in her eyes too.

"I'm stuffed." He said instead.

We sighed in relief. Though, how Tweety Bird cards could be tasty, I had no idea. I guess Tweety liked hanging out with satyrs.

"I have to tell you guys something." Annabeth said in a whisper.

Why did she speak in a whisper? Well….that would be because of the fact that two little kids were standing not far from us. They were pointing their fingers toward our direction, sneaking looks at Annabeth and me. Geez, at least they could try and be a little more secret than that!

"Percy's." was the only thing Thalia said before we all understood her.

Grover and I headed down the path, while Thalia and Annabeth headed in the opposite direction. We'd both head onto different paths, only to meet up again at my cabin. Luckily, there were lots of unused paths running directly to cabin 3. Exactly why, I really don't know. But they came in handy a few times, and this was one of those times.

Grover and I reached my cabin first, and I had enough time to unlock the front door when Annabeth and Thalia appeared a few moments later. Panting huh? They must've taken one of the longer trails.

The four of us settled into the "bedroom". Grover and Thalia sat on one bunk bed, Annabeth was lying across a top of a bunk, and I was sitting across the floor.

"Well?" I asked Annabeth. "What did you want to talk about?"

Annabeth's eyes got a little misty at my comment.

_Oh-oh._ I thought. _What did I say that offended her?_ As I racked though my brain on what stupid comment I said to her, Annabeth stared at me. I guess I had a funny expression on my face.

Sure enough, the next words that came out of her mouth was, "You look like you were thinking about something. Wait…Percy…thinking? …Not possible."

Well, to tell you the truth, I kind of disagree with that. I mean, I do think. I just don't do it often. What? I bet there isn't some kind of law that demands kids to think every moment.

Thalia broke the silence around us. "Ok, Annabeth." She commanded. "Are you going to tell us or what? I have sword practice coming up."

Annabeth took a deep breath and said in a soft whisper that made us lean toward her to hear. I guess my arm kind of brushed against her, because the next thing I knew, she shifted her position and was blushing furiously.

Annabeth tried to hide her blush, and she started to speak.

"Last night," she recalled. "I was really…uh…embarrassed about what happened, and went to bed earlier than usual. Usually, I have normal dreams or no dreams at all. But yesterday night, I dreamt of Luke."

She paused, and looked down. Me? I was trying hard not to ball up my fists. I still had this tiny feeling that Annabeth still liked Luke, even after what happened between them.

"Anyway, I was in one of the half-blood hideouts I made with Thalia and Luke. For some reason, it wasn't abandoned. I mean….Percy, remember the time where I showed inside one?"

I nodded.

"Well, wasn't there a musty smell? Like no one was ever there for a long time?"

I nodded again.

"But in this one, there was a fresh smell, and the fragment of food. Just as I was going to walk inside further to inspect the place I helped built, the sunlight outside helped make shadows inside the cave. That was when I realized that there was another person inside with me."

She paused dramatically. Thalia urged her to go on with her story.

"So, I turned around really fast, and there was Luke, blocking the exit. He had this really evil glint in his eyes, but he looked…thin, like he didn't have enough to eat for a few days. He raised his huge sword, and started to swing it. I braced myself for impact…and to die."

"Then, I heard the whoosh of the air next to me, and peeked open. Luke never misses his target, but there he was. He was struggling to hold his sword hand down from swinging Backbiter again."

"And then?" Thalia questioned her as Grover yawned.

"Then, Luke staggered away from the exit, just enough to let me escape. Then, the weirdest thing happened. This fog started to appear around him, and then…"

I cut into Annabeth's sentence. "There was a hologram of him, right? And it told you to go away."

Annabeth stared at me again, wide-eyed. "Yes." She whispered. "That's exactly what he said. He looked transparent. But he seemed serious, and he was ready to swing Backbiter again, so I turned around and ran for my life."

"Afterwards, I kept running. I don't know for how long, but finally, my siblings started to make a racket, and I woke up." Annabeth finished and dazed off into her own mixed thoughts.

**A/N: well? what did you think? the action's starting to flow, and by the next few chapters, it'll get more exciting, i promise. actually, i have the next 3 chapters' rough draft already planned out, so i bet it won't take as long as this one did.**


	7. Chapter 6

**A Change Of Heart, Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

**Chapter 6**

**A/N: as you'll see once you read this chapter, it's kind of short compared to the others. sorry about that fact, but other than that, enjoy! **

As Annabeth finished with her story, we all lapsed back into silence. Even Grover wasn't complaining about his hunger anymore. Seriously, didn't we just eat?

Thalia then murmured, "Well, Annabeth. I usually don't believe in dreams, but this one, I think we better take into account."

I nodded. I knew I needed to speak now. "To tell you the truth, I've had two dreams of Luke already."

Thalia and Annabeth looked at me weirdly.

"Uh……no, not that kind of dream. I mean, the one like Annabeth's. Except I was on the _Princess Andromeda. _And all the monsters were present, and the same thing happened to me. I was kind of stuck, with no way to run, and Luke…another Luke…I guess, appeared and helped me."

Thalia looked at Annabeth and then at me, as if we were crazy.

"Again," she said. "If Annabeth had a dream, similar to Percy's, who had TWICE, then I think something's up."

Grover yawned again, and promptly fell asleep.

Annabeth spoke, her voice commanding and serious. "I think it's time to consult the Oracle."

Thalia and I agreed. In the end, we held a vote, and it was decided that Annabeth go while the rest of us be on guard.

Thalia woke Grover up with a shrill whistle, and the result was Grover jumping up and banging his head. Ouch.

And, of course, Grover had a problem and whined about why he wasn't picked to consult with the Oracle.

Thalia was smart and replied it was his punishment for drifting off to sleep while we had serious work on our hands.

Thalia, Grover, and I split up and surrounded the Big House, and Annabeth slipped in.

I hung around the basketball court area, close enough to the Big House, but not too close. I hope I didn't look too suspicious.

I turned around at one point just in time to see Annabeth hurrying out of the doors. I walked away from the basketball court to meet her. Thalia and Grover showed up soon.

We hurried to my cabin again, and sat down without a word.

"Well?" Thalia asked impatiently. "What did the Oracle say?"

Annabeth recited in a monotone voice.

"Fortune moves in the strangest ways,

It lengthens night, it shortens days.

Illusions are around, only to deceive you,

To follow your heart, reveal then, the clue."

"Wha - ?" Grover stuttered. "What's that suppose to mean?"

Thalia interrupted him. "It means that I'm late for my sword practice."

She ran out of cabin three, slamming the door shut on the way out. The rest of us stared after her.

"Ooookay…" Grover muttered. "Who wants more food?"

"Enough, Goat-boy." Annabeth commanded. "Let's climb the lava wall."

If you ever asked me about my opinion, I would say that Grover's idea to spend the day sounded better. I never did so well on climbing. Now, if instead of lava, water was present, then I think I might have a better chance at things.

Who needed lava anyway?

Annabeth herded out of the cabin, and towards the huge wall.

Grover trembled at the height of the vertical wall looming over us. What was he worried about? I mean, satyrs have hooves right? Right?

Annabeth reset the timer on the nearby machine, ran back to us, and gave a thumb up signal.

"Go!" She stated.

Annabeth took a running start and began climbing up skillfully. Was she a monkey or something?

Grover gave a startled bleat and picked his way up the wall.

And me? I climbed the fastest I could, trying to pull myself up the rocks, and flinching at the sudden heat.

"LOOK OUT!" Annabeth's shout made me blink.

I jumped out of the path of overflowing lava. Annabeth was already pulling herself over the last bits of rock, sitting on top of the wall, looking down at us. Grover was almost there. And me?

I wasn't even halfway done yet. _Why me_….

By the time I finished and finally hauled myself up the last stretch, I was panting and had a singed smell.

My Camp Half-Blood shirt had several big holes, with my skin almost burned. How lucky me.

The machine recorded our results and I looked at mines.

"_The next garbage can I see, it'll receive a present from me."_ I thought.

We walked around the camp, not joining in any other activities we saw. Annabeth was tempted to try out archery, but I remembered when Chiron had tried to coach me. I still don't know how an arrow had fallen into his tail.

Grover and I dragged Annabeth away from the targets and together, we went to seek out Thalia, wherever she was.

**A/N: so...there wasn't much point to this chapter as much...but i had fun writing it. other chapters should be up in faster updates because i've been writing ahead and stuff. so, be expected for future chapters soon!**


	8. Chapter 7

**A Change Of Heart, Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

**Chapter 7**

**A/N: Hey everyone! Was this a too long wait? The plot really starts to get flowing now, and more action would be involved. This is the time, I'm sorry to say, that I may need more help in getting ideas, so plz, if you have suggestions or comments, tell me! I did put in some OOC's in this chapter, and maybe one in the next one. I'm sorry if you don't like OOC's. But really, there's not change in the overall plot, and I thought that some new characters would be refreshing, but for those who don't like OOC's, don't worry, none of them are main characters. I'm not even sure if they have lines to speak or not! lol, but enjoy!**

The next few days at camp went peacefully, and not a monster was in sight. However, Annabeth, Thalia, Grover, and I couldn't get the Oracle's prophecy out of our minds.

We kept on hearing raspy, ancient voices muttering the prophecy everywhere we went. Annabeth almost stabbed someone during sword practice. She kept on insisting that someone had whispered the prophecy in her ear.

In the end, we decided it was the wind.

But the wind didn't answer most of our problems. Thalia almost shot at this poor camper when she had target practice. The kid was just walking past, and looked in her direction. Thalia sworn that he had the Oracle's raspy voice.

Luckily, the arrow whooshed past the kid, whose name ended up to be Riley, missing him by just inches. Thalia was later confined from any water activities for two days as a punishment.

What a tragedy.

Grover had it the worst. He was certain that his enchilada had spoken to him as the Oracle. He insisted that it was true, and he didn't make up the whole story just to get attention, but Annabeth dragged him to the Apollo's cabin to get him checked anyway.

But the guy who performed a fast health check on Grover, Jared, said that Grover was absolutely normal. As normal satyrs gets anyway.

I had torment dreams, over and over again. I became cranky during the day and fearful during the night. I didn't want to sleep, even if I needed it. The nightmares just wouldn't go away. I felt like yelling at someone, just blaming this situation at someone…..something, even.

Annabeth stated one day, "We can't go on like this forever you know. Something has to be done."

I think she was feeling the torture behind this.

But we all agreed that an action must be taken. I couldn't go one without much sleep much longer. Already, I was yawning in the middle of the day.

"We need to go on this quest." Thalia said. "We need to figure out what the problem is."

Grover started brawling when he learned that he might have to leave the safety of the camp.

"Let's talk to Chiron." Thalia suggested. "Maybe he can help us a bit with this."

We walked toward the Big House again, trying not to look too suspicious. We haven't been near here since the day when Annabeth heard the prophecy.

We walked inside, and just like I suspected, there was Chiron and Mr. D, playing the normal pinhole card game.

Ah, it looked like Chiron was winning again since Mr. D had his usual scowl on his face.

Both of them looked up from their game when the four of us entered the room. Mr. D gave us a hard glare.

"What do you want?" he asked rudely. "I'll have you know that you're interrupting a very important game here."

Annabeth requested politely that we wished to speak to Chiron alone, and after looking at us for a long time, Mr. D gave a big sigh.

He stood up, grabbed his card used for immortal transportation, and disappeared with a wave of his hand.

I leaned over to Thalia and whispered, "Don't you think that was a bit…..to easy?"

Thalia shrugged her shoulders in return. What a great answer to my question.

Chiron spoke up. "What's the matter?"

Quickly, I explained about my dreams, including Annabeth's, the prophecy, and finally, the events that happened afterwards.

As I stopped to catch my breath, Chiron voiced his opinion.

"Percy," he said gently. Oh, I could see this would turn out to be a GREAT conversation. I groaned inwardly.

"Percy," Chiron said again. "I know you're worried about what Kronos is up to. In fact, we all are."

I spoke up. "How could all of you? Didn't Zeus declare the matter closed? Weren't you guys not allowed to discuss it again?"

"Yes, we were." Chiron said. "But it's better to be safe than sorry. We've been planning if Kronos decides to launch another attack. But you Percy," he looked at me for a while. "You are going to stay in camp."

"WHY?!" I shouted, losing my temper. "Why should I stay in camp, if everyone else could help? I'll be able to help too you know. I'm not useless."

"Of course not." Chiron said gently again. "But Kronos is targeting you. You know it, I know it, even your friends here know it. If you're out in the open, death would fall more quickly on you, and Kronos would have the upper hand. For the sake of the upcoming war, you are staying in camp."

Chiron smiled sadly, as if knowing that the decision wouldn't satisfy me. He trotted softly out the room and out the building.

"It's not just the fact about a war." Annabeth said quietly. "I have the feeling that Luke needs me. …..He needs us."

"You mean he's in trouble?" Thalia questioned her.

"Yes, I can feel it." Annabeth said certainly. "There was always a bonding between us." She glanced over to me. "But in my dreams, I could feel the uncertainty and unhappiness coming off of him….like waves of torment."

"We need to go." I decided quietly in case Chiron really was still outside listening in. "I don't really care about Luke and all, but we need to stop this war from happening. Chiron said once that if World War III ever did happen, it'll be bad….real bad."

"But Percy!" Grover looked alarmed. "Kronos is out there. He's looking for you! You're basically walking into your grave!"

"I don't care." I repeated stubbornly. "I'm going to stop war, no matter if I'm a child o the Big Three or not."

My friends looked at one another. They knew as well as I did that when I made up my mind, I made it up. There was no changing it, no matter what they say.

"We'll go." Thalia said finally. "We'll get into tons of trouble if we return alive though."

"Boy, what a happy thought." Grover exclaimed sarcastically. "If we die along the way, the war will happen and Kronos would be closer to take over the world. If we return alive to prevent it, we'll still get into trouble for sneaking away in the first place."

"We need a way to sneak out of camp, and we need to pack…..and a plan." Annabeth suggested instantly.

I smiled weakly at her. "A plan worthy of Athena."

Annabeth smiled tiredly back. "Ok you guys. Go ahead and pack your stuff. We'll meet in Percy's cabin again to decide the rest."

We separated from each other outside the Big House.

**A/N: As I finish typing this, I realized that today is April Fool's. (April 1st) So. . . HAPPY APRIL FOOL'S DAY EVERYONE! yay for jokes and pranks! One can have fun with tricks and such. The next few chapters would come in a bit later, I expect, since one of my big piano contests is coming up, NNYSMA. . . .So I need to concentrate on piano more than fanfiction. But don't worry, I'll be back uploading soon!**


	9. Chapter 8

**A Change Of Heart, Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

**Chapter 8**

**A/N: I'm so sorry for not uploading sooner. Well, here's chapter 8, and chapter 9 will be up soon. I'm also working on some Narnia fan-fics and teaming up with ****bluefoxfaerie**** on a ben 10 fic which the first chapter will be hopefully up sooner than later.**

Grover was the first to finish packing and joined me as I finished rushing around the small cabin, stuffing everything in an old backpack I found. From the look on his face, I could just guess what he packed.

_Tin cans, apples, a deck of cards, aluminum coke cans, …_

Thalia and Annabeth arrived later, both bringing a backpack each filled with stuff.

Annabeth lugged her pack through my cabin door, and turned around to close it. She then sat down at the edge of a bunk bed, closed her eyes, and started to think hard.

Thalia murmured, "The harpies are going to be out during the night, so it'll be hard to sneak out then."

Annabeth nodded in acknowledgement, still muttering under her breath.

"And Mr. D and Chiron, especially, would be counting us making an escape." Grover added.

Annabeth nodded again, still lost in thought. We gave her silence.

After a few minutes, she snapped her fingers together. "Got it." She exclaimed.

We huddled closer to hear Annabeth's great escape plan.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

We ate dinner like usual, pretending everything was normal, and that we weren't planning on some big escape during the campfire later on.

The fire was glowing brightly, flames leaping highly as we arrived. The fire was enchanted, changing its color and heat with the mood of the campers gathered around it. Tonight seemed like a good night. The fire was pretty high, glowing bright, hot blue.

Annabeth had introduced one of her cabin mates, also a son of Athena, a pretty cool guy named Aaron. At least, he seemed pretty cool. I mean, the first time I met Luke, I thought he was a pretty cool guy too. Boy, was I mistaken.

But in order for Annabeth's plan to work, Aaron was needed, and he was the one camper Annabeth trusted other than us. She told us before, "Aaron won't give away our secret, no matter what. Don't worry." Even after she said that, I'd continue to worry.

As Chiron led the camp songs, Aaron sneaked away from the crowd, only to return a few minutes later, unnoticed by everyone except us. He muttered into Annabeth's ear, gave us a thumb up sign, wished us good luck, and went back to where Athena's cabin was gathered.

Annabeth relayed his message. "He safely got our backpacks near the border of the camp." She whispered to us.

Right at that moment, Mr. D gave a loud shout. I guess Aaron put his plan to work too.

Annabeth had told Aaron to make a diversion in order for us to sneak away undetected. Now, as everyone was running around, trying to see what was going on, the four of us melted into the shadows.

We met up near the pine tree was, marking the border of Camp Half-Blood. Annabeth had gotten both mortal and immortal money into her bag, along with a bag filled with ambrosia in case someone got hurt. Which was very likely.

The harpies weren't at their normal posts, because of camp fire night.

We snuck out of camp with no problem. After walking for thirty minutes or so, we reached the outskirts of the city. From there, we planned on boarding a taxi or a bus, since a plane was out of the question, and headed down to Florida, where we last saw the _Princess Andromeda. _

We hurried down the road, sticking to the shadows. We didn't know how long it'll take before someone at Camp Half-Blood knows we left, and with magic, we didn't know how fast it'll take for a god, probably Mr. D or Chiron to catch up to us. We needed to move, fast, before we were found out. We only had one shot at escaping.

Luckily, we reached came into the bus station. After looking at the departing computer screens of buses, Annabeth suggested we take a bus to Rhode Island, and from there, take a ship somehow, all the way down to Florida.

"Percy's water nature would come in handy." Thalia had commented.

I counted our mortal money, seeing how much we had. "Annabeth!" I almost shouted. "There's more than a hundred dollars in here! How in the world did you get this much money in a short amount of time?!"

"Oh." Annabeth shrugged carelessly. "Aaron and I had a money system going. We also saved immortal money just in emergencies. We had a deal that if I used the money; I had to owe that much amount back, plus a 5 dollar extra."

"Well, we have enough money for a bus trip to Rhode Island for all four of us, that's for sure." I said. "But we needed to hurry."

Thalia went to buy our bus tickets, manipulating the Mist in the process, since the person at the counter couldn't see our guardians.

She handed us our bus tickets. "The next bus leaves about an hour from now." She told us. "In the meantime, we need to keep a lookout, for anyone from Camp Half-Blood and Kronos."

Grover shivered at that last part. I felt sorry for the guy. "Hey, G-Man!" I dug into his blue backpack strapped on his back, and took an apple out. "Here."

Grover chomped the apple, and in no time at all, the apple, core and all, disappeared from this world.

Our luck hung with us, which was surprising. Our bus came right on schedule, and no crazy monster stalked after us. We boarded the bus, keeping our possessions with us, putting them under our seats.

"How long is this going to take again?" I asked.

"About 5-6 hours." Thalia answered me from in front.

She and Grover had taken the front two seats, leaving me to sit with Annabeth behind them.

"Oh great." I groaned. Just what I needed. Three ADHD kids, two with very powerful half-blood scent, and dyslexia, on a 6 hour long bus ride. I could just see the destruction ahead.

I could never sit still for long at school, or anywhere else. Chiron had assured me that it was common with all half-bloods, even Annabeth, who wanted to become an architect. Because of the fact that she was ADHD, I found that pretty funny. Chiron said that it was because of my fighting ability, and I have to admit, when you're fighting, it does come in handy, but when sitting in a bus, it seemed to be the worst possibility.

"We'll keep busy." Annabeth assured us, as well as herself.

It might've worked too, if she had sounded at least a little bit certain of herself. Instead, her trembling voice just made me more nervous.

The loudspeaker came up on the bus, and the driver droned on in a monotone voice about how we were in New York, duh, and that this bus's destination was Rhode Island. If anyone wasn't going there, then they should get off this certain bus right now.

Finally, the guy talked enough to even bore himself, I guess, and the bus started to back from its parking location.

Another few minutes, and we were on the highway, speeding down south, away from Camp Half-Blood and toward trouble.

I found myself praying to the gods that I wouldn't be killed on this quest. Hey, I had survived quite a bit, even a few years. I tried to be optimistic. I tried to believe that I would survive this quest too. Unfortunately, the god that controlled war, Lord Ares, was not on my side. We were never on good terms, ever since I first found out that I was a half-blood, on my first quest.

**A/N: So? what did u think?**


	10. Chapter 9

**A Change Of Heart, Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

**Chapter 9**

**A/N: See? This chapter got out pretty soon. There might be a wait on the next chapter though, since I'm writing ahead and editing chapters so it'll be easier for me. Hehe, hopefully, there won't be that much of a wait like last time. I've also taken to writing some Narnia one-shot fics, if anyone has an interest and want to check that out.**

As the bus sped down the highway, I got more bored, and more bored. I stared out the window for a bit, watching the scenery fly past, until my eyes got blurry and I had to blink a few times for them to return to normal.

Annabeth produced a deck of cards out of nowhere, and challenged me to a round of go-fish. We gave up in the middle of the second game, it was so boring just sitting there, yawning, and saying "nope, go fish" after every pause.

Grover was munching happily into an apple he found in his backpack, seemingly forgetting the danger we would encounter. As for Thalia, I think she was asleep.

I looked over to Annabeth again. She was snuggled as much as the bus seat offered and reading an architecture book in ancient Greek. I noticed she was receiving quite a few stares directed to her book.

I guess I dozed off like Thalia and thank goodness this time I didn't have a scary nightmare of Luke. I needed the sleep. I awoke again, with sunlight filtering in the tiny bus window, feeling more refreshed than the past few days.

We soon arrived in the bus terminal in Rhode Island. We struggled to claim our luggage and as soon as the bus stopped, Thalia, Annabeth, Grover, and I stepped off.

As we entered the small building, we were hassled by a bunch of security guards. I guess we needed to be checked before we leaved the terminal.

Thalia and I got through just fine, the moral detector not picking up Thalia's bracelet as a shield or my "regular" pen as a bronze sword.

Grover, however, refused to take off his shoes, since it would have been pretty hard to explain to the guards why a kid as hooves instead of feet. But in the end, we got him through with no problem.

The problem was Annabeth. Apparently, she had taken her bronze dagger and hidden it up her shirt sleeve, because as soon as she stepped through the detector, it went haywire and started to beep like crazy.

We tried persuading to the guards that there was nothing dangerous with Annabeth, and that it was the machine what had gone crazy, yet they dragged Annabeth off to the side and made us follow.

They searched Annabeth, poking and patting her, and finally locating the dagger. They stared at the length, not believing that a young girl was carrying such a weapon.

As the one guard who was holding the dagger and staring at it, Annabeth snatched it out of his hand.

She yelled, "Come on!" to us, and ran like crazy toward the doors.

Without missing a single beat, Grover, Thalia, and I picked up of backpacks, and raced to the doors, and freedom outside.

We were halfway across the room before the security guards realized we were trying to make a run for it.

Was it just me or are they slow?

Even though, they jogged after us, yelling freeze, and stop, and even, drop that sword.

_Sword?_ Maybe they haven't seen a sword before because Annabeth's dagger length wasn't even near to a sword's length.

But we just ran and ran, down some random street, before turning to a new one, into deeper and deeper unknown territory.

Soon enough, we lost the guards, and the screaming behind us. We ran on a bit more, then stopped, and panted, gasping for breath.

One of Grover's fake shoes had come loose during the run, and Thalia helped him stuff it back on.

Annabeth let her backpack drop to the ground next to her, and sat down, also gasping for breath.

I was panting and looking at where we were, trying to find somewhere we could rest or continue on our little quest of stopping Kronos.

After we all had caught our breath, we walked down streets after streets. We finally found our way to the ferry place after having to stop to ask for directions thousands of times, and walking more than half an hour.

I though Grover was going to cry when he reached into his backpack once more, only to hold up his empty hand, without an apple on sight. Thalia walked over to a fruit stand, supervised with some guys, looking high school aged.

She walked back to us, balancing four apples in her hands. We looked at it hungrily. We hadn't eaten since the night before. Once on a quest, going hungry on some days was common.

We bit into our apples, and were attracting stares from various people on the streets. I guess three….er…four seemly "normal" kids were supposed to be at school instead of wandering on the streets on a weekday.

We walked the last bit and arrived at a rather shabby building. A sign was posted outside the main iron fence.

It read, "BOA'S FERRY SHIPS"

"This is it." commented Thalia. She was the one who had the map we swiped at the bus station before being chased.

"Looks kind of like those warehouses huh." Grover said. "Wonder if anyone evil is hiding out in there?"

Annabeth nudged us all to the front doors. She pushed it open, and it did open; with a loud creak that echoed loudly inside the building.

"Is anyone here?" she wondered.

"Hello?" I called out.

Almost immediately, the doors shut with a bang after those words issued from my mouth.

I swallowed. "Uh…hello? Anyone here?" I tried again.

This time, my question was answered by the branches scratching on the cracked windows.

"Maybe we should leave." Grover suggested.

He headed toward the doors that had slammed shut.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Annabeth muttered. She followed Grover.

I followed them. Just as my hand touched the door handle to pull; I felt a pair of cold hand grabbing my neck, sending shivers down my spine.

A raspy voice echoed throughout the building.

"Going somewhere lad?"

**A/N: Sorry about the little ...okay...kinda big cliffhanger, but it seemed like a good place to stop. Leave a review!**


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